The present invention relates to the field of searching on data processing systems and searching on backup systems which contain backup data for data processing systems.
Data processing systems often employ backup systems to keep a backup copy of data and software applications in case the original copy becomes corrupted or destroyed or is otherwise lost. There are many examples of backup applications which can be used to create backup copies for data processing systems. Time Machine on Macintosh OS X systems is one example of a backup application which can make multiple snapshots over time so that a user can see deleted files in prior snapshots or view the current files of the user in the latest snapshot. As is known in the art, Time Machine can operate by copying new files since the last backup or snapshot, from a source volume, such as the bootup hard drive or other storage device of a computer or other data processing system, to a backup volume such as a backup hard drive or other storage device. FIG. 1A shows an example 101 of a data processing system 102 with a source volume 103 and a backup volume 104. The original files are typically on the source volume 103, and Time Machine or other backup applications can create copies of the files on the source volume and store those as backup files on the backup volume 104. The data processing system 102 can include one or more processors and one or more busses as is known in the art.
In the past, when a directory, such as a user's folder, was moved or renamed, some backup applications, such as Time Machine, copied the entire directory that was moved or renamed and kept the old directory in its original place and created a new copy at the new location of the directory; the renaming of the file effectively can be considered a new location as the new name results in a location specified by the new path name in the file system. If the backup application does not create a copy of the entire directory when the directory is moved or renamed, some searching systems, such as those which search for full text content of files, such as Spotlight on the Macintosh OS X operating system, may not find existing files within the directory on the backup volume if the user uses a search query that includes a scope or path in the query, such as find the file “squid” in the folder “X”. FIG. 1B shows an example of how this can happen. In operation 110, a first snapshot or backup of the source volume is created on the backup volume, and then in operation 112, the user renames folder “X” to folder “Y” on the source volume. The contents of the folder remain the same, in other words the files within the folder remain the same, however the name of the folder has been changed. In operation 114, the next snapshot or backup of the source file is created on the backup volume and then the user attempts to search for a file by name and also specifies a particular folder to search in, in this case the folder “X”. If no duplication of the directory occurred when backup operation 114 was performed, then the scope search specified in operation 116 will not find the file specified by name because the folder X was renamed to folder Y in operation 112.